1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of document scanning and in particular, to systems, methods, and user-interfaces for securely scanning documents in a public or non-private environment.
2. Description of Related Art
Computer scanners such as document scanners, printers, and multi-function devices facilitate the conversion of physical documents into electronic form and vice-versa. For example, a physical document may be scanned and stored in electronic form on a computer. The scanned document may be represented, at least initially, as an image comprising of a sequence of pixels. A user may often configure the scanner prior to a scan by selecting from various scan or document-related options such as document size, format of the output file, and/or scan resolution. Typically, the scanned image is transmitted over a network or to an attached computer and may be saved at a default or user-specified location.
In a home or another controlled private or secured environment both network transmission and image storage may be relatively safe and users may be able to prevent access to private files. However, in an office, public, or semi-public, or any non-private environment both network transmission and storage of scanned files may raise security risks. Information sent over a network may be intercepted and images stored in default publicly accessible folders may be viewed by unauthorized parties before they can be deleted. For example, users in a public document service center (such as Kinko's) may be loathe to scan personal or private information without assurances regarding the confidentiality of the scanned data.
Thus, there is a need for systems, methods, and user-interfaces to allow users to scan documents securely and effect greater control over the scanning process.